ASHLEY Cole's family have been accused of celebrating over the sickening coin attack on Manchester United star Rio ­Ferdinand, which could have left him blind.

Despite the shameful scenes at the Etihad Stadium having been slammed worldwide, Cole’s brother Matty and mother Sue allegedly took to Facebook to announce their joy after seeing Ferdinand hit above the eye with a 2p coin during the weekend’s Manchester derby.

According to reports, the unsympathetic Matty wrote: “So happy Rio got hit in the face today when he tried to give it kissing his badge!! Straight in the eye!! Made my day.”

An hour later, his mother Sue reportedly added to the thread by saying: “Bloody missed that, ha ha ha.” She added: “Give the fan that threw it a medal!!!”

The 56-year-old mum of the Chelsea star is also said to have commented on Ferdinand's injury when he appeared at the ­X Factor final in Manchester.

On her son’s Facebook page she wrote: “Rio in audience at x factor, wonder if he can see?????”

Matty, 28, added: “He talks like he sucking an egg!! Rubber lip lol.”

According to reports, when Cole's mother was approached outside her Essex home last night she denied writing the posts and branded the jibes against Rio “disgusting”.

The Facebook thread was later removed.

Tensions between Cole and Ferdinand escalated during the John Terry race trial earlier this year.

The Chelsea captain was accused of racially abusing QPR star Anton last year, before being cleared at Westminster magistrates.

Rio sparked controversy when he appeared to endorse a tweet ­referring to defence witness Cole as a “choc ice” – a slang term meaning black on the outside, white on the inside, for which he was later fined.